Load handling apparatus



Dec.. 4r9 1962 H. E. MESCHER lAL LOAD HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Aug. l, 1960 Sqfn O, /Easevrsson United States Patent i.

Federated Dec. 4, 1962 ice 3,066,971 LQAD BANDEN@ APBARATUS Harold E. Mescher, Rivera, and Sven Rosensson, Al-

hambre, Calif., assignors to kaciiie Scientific Company, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Aug. 1, 1960, Ser. No. 46,532 6 Claims. (C1, 29d-ma) This invention relates generally to apparatus for handling loads or equipment which are inaccessible to direct personal contact due, for example, to the high temperature of the load, or picking up or placing the same in areas difficult to access by operating personnel, or where the load consists of containers of dangerous chemicals, etc., and the invention relates, more specifically, to a novel load handling apparatus that can be suitably carried by `a building crane and/ or lifting chain and cable mechanism and which apparatus is suitable, for example, for lifting material or parts to be heat treated into a high temperature furnace and thereafter for rnoving the material or parts into a quenching tank. Such load handling apparatus embodies novel coupling means whereby the load may be coupled to the building crane lifting cable and uncoupled therefrom without the necessity of using manual Contact with the load.

In the heat treatment of materials, and particularly the heat treatment of large members such as airplane or mis- Sile parts, it is often necessary to pick up the material or ,members and raise the same into a heat treating :furnace wherein the material is heated to a desired high temperature and thereafter the material or members are lowered into a quenching tank, which operations must be performed without operating personnel being present in the immediate vicinity of the material or members being treated due to high temperatures existing in and about the furnace. Also, in the handling of dangerous chemicals it is desirable that operating personnel do not get too close to the material being handled.

In our co-pending application, Serial No. 794,050 tiled on February 18, 1959, now Patent No. 2,954,997 dated Oct. 4, 1960, therein is disclosed a novel load handling apparatus of the type herein involved. The present invention is a somewhat simpliiied and improved modification of the structure of our co-pending application.

It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide a novel load handling apparatus that is of rugged and simple construction and capable of picking up material or members to be processed or handled whereupon the apparatus is adapted to be lifted by an overhead crane and/ or lifting chain and cable mechanism and moved to a point where the material or members are to be used or operated upon and which may be moved through la series of desired operations without the material or members being directly handled by or contacting the personnel said load handling apparatus having improved means for releasing the load when desired.

A feature of the present invention is to provide a novel load handling apparatus of the above character having a spider member lfor carrying a load, together with pivotally supported holding members or bars thereon for engaging a coupling pin carried by the lifting cable or chain for effecting the lifting of the load, said holding members having latching members pivoted thereon and movable therewith for engaging stop projections on said spider member to hold said holding members in their outermost released positions to enable the disconnection of the load.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent after a perusual of the following specication taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a plan view, with parts broken away, looking up from below, of the novel load handling apparatus of this invention;

FlG. 2 is an enlarged partial transversed sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. l, looking in the direction of the arrows, of the apparatus shown in FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view, partly in section, of a portion of the structure of FIG. 2, illustrating the manner of inserting the cable carrying coupling pin into or out of the spider of the apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a View similar to 1G. 3 and illustrates the initial movement of the coupling pin preparatory to removing the same from the coupling member;

FlG. 5 shows the coupling pin actually being withdrawn from the coupling member; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 4 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings, reference numeral l designates a coupling pin adapted to be attached at its upper end to the cable or chain of any suitable supporting and carrying means such as a building crane and/ or a lifting chain and cable mechanism. The pin 1 hangs downward from the supporting cable or chain and is adapted to enter the central opening 2 in a hollow hub 3 of a supporting member illustrated as spider 4. The spider 4 has a plurality of radially extending arms 5 provided with `apertures 6 at varying radial distances to which may be removably connected depending supporting rods as disclosed in our aforementioned application. The number of rods employed and the radial position of the same will depend upon the material or members carried.

The lower end of the coupling pin 1 is provided with an enlarged conical projection or end portion 13 that in descending through aperture 2 is adapted to engage and actuate a pair of opposed substantially C-shaped holding bars or members 14 downwardly and outwardly to accommodate the pin 1 (see especially FIG. l), which bars are iixedly carried by bell crank levers 15 pivoted as by pins 16 upon rthe spider l. With the coupling pin 1 fully inserted into the spider 4, as shown in FIG. 2, preparatory to lifting the spider and the load, the substantially opposed holding bars 1&5- engage the `lower portion of the coupling pin 1 directly behind a shoulder 17 provided by the conical end portion 13. Since the upper portion of conical end portion 13 is somewhat larger than the pin 1, the step or `shoulder 17 is provided for engaging the holding bars so that these bars are pressed upwardly and against the bottom of the spider hub 3 during the lifting of the spider and its load, thus stressing bars 14 substantially in shear enabling the apparatus to handle with ease relatively heavy loads in hot or corrosive atmospheres. lt will be noted that the pivotal pins 16 do not carry any of the load but that the load is transmitted from the shoulder 17 through the holding bars 14 directly in shear to the hub 3, thereby providing an extremely rugged sup- 3 port for the spider and its load and one that is not deformed by high temperatures such as obtain in furnaces.

FlG. 3 shows the conical end portion t3 of the pin l as it enters or leaves the spider d. t will be noted that, as the pin l is lowered, the conical end portion i3 will strike the opposed semi-cylindrical edges of the opposed holding bars l4 and will swing these bars downwardly about their pivots ld sufficiently to enable the conical portion to pass through the substantial cylindrical opening provided between these bars, whereupon the overhanging weighted portions la of these bars will serve to swing the bars inwardly and engage the pin l directly behind the shoulder 17, as shown in FIG. 2, so that the cable may then be raised, effecting the lifting of the load and the movement of the same by the crane to any desired position such as inside a furnace or eilecting the lowering of the load as when it is desired to lower the same into a quenching tank or pit.

When it is desired to uncouple the coupling pin l from the spider 4 and the load carried thereby, the crane operator will lower the load carried by supporting spider 4 down upon a suitable support. He will then continue to lower the cable slightly, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 4 of the drawings, so that the pin l continues to move downwardly within the hollow hub 3 until a lower beveled shoulder i9 of a cylindrical boss Zd formed on the pin 1 strikes the semi-cylindrical edges of the opposed holding bars t4 and depresses these bars, as showny in FIG. 4, thereby turning the same outwardly about their pivots 16. Upper arms 2l of bell crank levers l5 have inwardly extending latch -members Z3 pivoted thereon as by pivot pins Z4. These latch members 2.3 are provided with locking plates 25 directed radially inwardly toward the center of hub 3 so that, when the holding bars have been turned sutliciently about their pivot pins .l5 by the downward movement of the coupling pin l, the latch members locking plates 25' will ride over and engage the inner sides of upwardly extending locking projections 2d provided on the upper surface of hub 3 due to the tendency of the latch members 23 to fall under the action of gravity, as illustrated in FIG. 4, such locking engagement taking place the moment holding bars t4 have reached the outer limit of their travel. With the bell crank arms 2l and connected latch members 23 thusly engaged, the locking projections 26 engaging locking plates ZS prevent levers Vld from turning under the influence of the overhanging weighted portions 14 of the holding bars so that these holding bars are held and locked substantially in their outermost positions, as shown in FlG. 4, whereupon the coupling pin l can be raised, as shown by the arrows in FIG. 5, allowing the shoulder l7 to pass the cylindrical opposed edges of the holding bars le readily. There is no slight inward movement of the holding bars at the moment of locking such as takes place in the structure of our co-pending application due to the presence of locking recesses therein, so that there is no possibility of shoulder 17 accidentally engaging the opposed edges of the holding bars during the removal of the pin l.

Further upward movement of the coupling pin l will cause the upper annular shoulder 27 of boss Ztl to strike the inner curved ends of locking plates 25, as shown in FIG. 5, thereby turning the latch members 23 upwardly and outwardly somewhat7 disengaging locking plates 25 from locking projections 26 and enabling the weighted portions 14 to turn bell crank levers l5 so that these levers 15 will turn inwardly behind the conical end portion t3 of the pin l and again into the position shown in FlG. 3 whereby the pin l is free to be removed completely from the spider. The holding bars 14 and the locking bars 23 are thus again positioned preparatory to re-inserting the pin '1 into the hub of the spider for another lifting and handling operation.

Thus it will be seen that, by merely controlling the position of pin 1 in its up and down motion, the crane operator by remote control is able to couple and uncouple the pin 1 with respect to the spider 4, as desired, and without the necessity of an operator manually coupling or uncoupling the pin 1 of the spider, so that, should the Work carried by the spider 4 be in a heated condition and hence unapproachable by personnel, or should this member support hot acid, for example, the same can be picked up, moved and again lowered to any position desired Without any danger to operating personnel. lt will be noted that the novel load handling apparatus of this invention is of simple construction using sturdy, rugged parts which can withstand high temperatures, acids, etc., without injury so that the same has a long life and is reliable in use. Since the holding bars i4 carry the load directly in shear, these bars are not deformed by high temperatures in use.

Since many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

l. Load handling apparatus comprising a load supporting member, said member having a hub provided with a substantially vertical opening therethrough, holding means pivoted on said supporting member for projecting into said opening, a coupling pin vertically movable into and out of cooperative engagement with said opening and having an enlarged conical projection on the lower end portion thereof engageable with said supporting member holding means, said coupling pin conical projection serving, upon downward movement within said opening, to initially engage and pivot said holding means about their pivotal connections on said supporting member sufliciently to cause the holding means to engage and abut said pin projection to enable the lifting of a load, latch members pivotaily supported on said pivoted holding means and movable therewith, said coupling pin having a second projection thereon above said conical projection, the further lowering of said coupling pin within said hub opening cans ing said second projection to engage said holding means and turn the same outwardly, to thereby move said latch members to engage a portion of said supporting member in locking engagement during said continued downward movement of said coupling pin within said opening, to thereby hold said latch members against retraction and retain said holding means in their outermost positions out of engagement with said coupling pin projection, thereby allowing said coupling pin to be withdrawn readily from said holding means.

2. A load handling apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said holding means comprises opposed holding bars carried by bell rank levers pivoted upon said supporting member, said holding bars engaging the upper surface of said coupling pin projection and said hub in shear to effect the raising of said supporting member and its load, said coupling pin second projection being of sufiicient length for engaging said holding bars upon said further movement downward of said pin to swing said holding bars outwardly and the latch members carried thereby inwardly to effect the latching of said latch memers upon said supporting member to hold said holding bars in their outermost positions and enabling easy removal of said coupling pin from said hub opening.

3. A load handling apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said latching members pivotally carried by said bell crank levers have locking plates thereon, said engageable supporting member portion comprising locking projections on said supporting member adapted to be engaged by said latch member locking plates.

4. A load handling apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said coupling pin second projection serves to engage said engaged latch members during upwardV movement of said coupling pin, thereby turning said latch mern- 6. A load handling apparatus as dened in claim 4 bers about their pivotal supports on said bell crank levers wherein said supporting member comprises a hub portion and disengaging said latch members from said locking having said central vertical opening therethrough, said projections to allow said holding bars to swing inwardly. hub portion having radiating spider arms provided with 5. A load handling apparatus as defined in claim 4 5 apertures for supportingaload. wherein said bell crank levers have Weighted portions for actuating the latter and returning said holding bars to References Cited in the me 0f this Patent their normal position upon the disengagement of said UNITED STATES PATENTS latch `members from said locking projections preparatory to said holding bars again engaging said coupling pin first 10 2954997 Mescher et al Oct' 4 1960 projection for another lifting Operation. 

